


Old Aches

by SimonBlackchill



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas, Colonyshipping, Crying, Family Member Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, old men crying is honestly my jam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 13:03:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10697583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimonBlackchill/pseuds/SimonBlackchill
Summary: Professors Oak and Rowan have decided to spend their Christmas holidays together, and for that reason Samuel travels to the cold Sinnoh. Gary Oak spends his holidays in Kalos, where he is currently an intern in Professor Sycamore's lab.Since both Rowan and Oak have lost near and dear family members during their life, the holidays are always a bittersweet affair. Most of the time, though, sorrow is best when carried together, even when they both bring emotional baggage with them.





	Old Aches

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon given name for Professor Rowan is Daniel. Headcanon given name for Samuel Oak's deceased son, Gary's father, is David, and Aurelia is the name for Gary's deceased mother. I haphazardly mix all Pokémon media in my Pokémon-stories usually, and this is no exception.

The train was barely audible, Samuel couldn't even feel it move. He adjusted the screen of his laptop a little better and laughed.

»Though it is a pity we can't spend the holidays together.»

Gary on the other end sighed. Samuel didn't know if it was of teenage frustration towards parents, or if it was for the same reason Samuel could have let out a deep sigh.

»We'll meet during New Year's, if anything.»

»I hope Sycamore's keeping you well fed.»

»I hope the same about Professor Rowan,» Gary said and laughed. He waved his hand in the air, as carefree as ever. Samuel wanted to hug him, so bad. »I'll call you on the Eve.»

»Sleep tight, Gary.»

»Buh-bye, Gramps.»

Samuel pulled down the screen of the laptop and packed it in his bag. His glance moved outside where the dark autumn scenery had changed to a radically more wintery, more cold, much whiter imagery. Samuel wrapped his woollen blazer better around himself. Cursed his forgetfulness. A cold crept under his shirt, in the form of shivers and longing and uncertainty. He shivered, cursed that he'd forgotten to take thicker sweaters with him. A woollen blazer alone did not take you far in the Sinnoh weather in December.

***

Samuel told the cab driver to keep the change and took his suitcase from him. He turned around, looked up at the overcast sky. All grey. An armada of snowflakes fell, melted on Samuel's face, felt cold and unpleasant on his skin. He wiped it off and adjusted his backpack, walked along the trail that took him to the gate of Daniel Rowan's yard. The rusty metal squeaked as if in pain, Samuel had always hated the sound and had told Daniel multiple times to get it oiled. Maybe he had.

Maybe the gate was so stubbornly rusty that the cries of its agony were no longer capable of being silenced. When Samuel thought of it, he felt it was a metaphor. It made him feel even more sore.

A familiar face appeared from behind the dark wooden door. Daniel hadn't even taken his labcoat off yet, after a long day at work.

»You're early,» Daniel said. There was a shadow on his face, a shadow so familiar Samuel's heart ached when he recognized it. A shadow he never hoped anyone else to have hung upon their brow. Not two days before Christmas.

Samuel forced a smile and came inside, dropped his backpack and his suitcase. He reached to wrap his arms around Daniel’s neck, breathed out a trip-ful of heavy feelings and breathed in Daniel's familiar scent composed of  _eau de cologne_  and an assortment of potion chemicals. Friendly for breathing in, obviously.

»You don't know how much I've needed you,» Samuel whispered. A rare sentence from him. But it barely even surprised Daniel – the older man only hugged Samuel back and pulled him even tighter against his own chest.

»I think I do.»

***

A long flame flickered rapidly, as if chased but unable to budge, panicking and trying desperately to move away from the candle. Daniel placed it next to its friends on the table and sat down on the sofa, next to Samuel who still slept. He'd travelled a long way from Pallet to Sandgem, he'd had a difficult night, more difficult than usual. It was as if the two men had their minds' inner workings synced, for Daniel was sleepy as well due to too little sleep.

It was easy to drown one's tiredness to a load of work, but now that Samuel was there to soothe him, everything surfaced. Urged Daniel to let Samuel see all of it.

Daniel shook Samuel, stirred him from his slumber enough only to pull him closer, to let the man rest his head upon Daniel’s thigh. Samuel muttered something, crawled closer and fell right back asleep. Daniel pulled a blanket on him, petted his greying, once vibrantly brown hair. Scratched him from behind the ear.

A cold realisation took a grip of Daniel’s heart. They were not alone, but they both suffered from loneliness. Daniel could taste it in the air around Samuel. Could see the shadow in his gaze. He knew.

Christmas food was brewing and being prepared in the kitchen, and Daniel Rowan knew they both wanted it to be over soon.

***

»Gary doesn’t like it when I do this,» Samuel said and placed the lit incense upon its place in front of three photographs. David smiled at him from behind the photo frame’s glass. Christmas songs played from beyond the record player’s slight rattling. The new Christmas sweater itched against his skin. Daniel had been smart enough to wear a button-up underneath.

Daniel’s mother had a similar benevolence to her smile as David, similar to David’s wife as well. David Oak held up his thumb in the small school photograph, but stood more sternly in his wedding photograph next to Aurelia.

Samuel grunted as he knelt in front of the small altar he’d constructed, stared at the photographs. Daniel’s sturdy grandfather clock told it was ten in the evening. Gary hadn’t called yet. It was a whole different hour of the clock in Kalos, he knew it, but he was growing impatient.

After a moment Daniel joined Samuel in front of the altar, and they stared at their dead family in the face. Their sweaters matched, green and red and golden, smiling snowmen and mistletoe shapes and snowflake figures. And they both shook, they both shook with emotions they were not in the habit of rejecting but were not too fond of either.

»Daniel,» Samuel whispered as both David’s and Aurelia’s gazes long since gone strangled him. Daniel could not move under the weighing absence of his darling mother.

»Yes?»

»Do you mind if I cry?»

Silence. Daniel could not talk, he could not have declined Samuel his basic need even if he had wanted to.

Samuel grouched forward, placed his palms on the thick carpet, and sobbed. His vision blurred with tears, a dull ache forced them to flow from his eyes. A dull, decade-old ache that interwined with Daniel’s as the white-haired man took a hold of him and pulled him to a shaky, uncertain, warm embrace that they both knew was their only comfort.

»Gary doesn’t like it…» Samuel hiccupped, »when I do _this_ , either.»


End file.
